Vlog the Inhaler, or The Occasional Video Blog Musings of Jim Thornton

How to know if you're trying enough

Chris, I think most people need a schedule for periodization to work well for them, because their inner "I'm broken down" threshold is set too low. A schedule also gives them an end in sight, which can be a powerful motivational factor.

Fort, June 14 is soon! The end is in sight!

--Mr. Qbrain in a comment on a recent Chris Stevenson blog

On this, my 22nd consecutive day of daily hard exercise, I think I have begun to get some clues that might help my fellow swimmers decide if you are trying enough in practice--and not succumbing to that inner babyish voice that cries out, "Ease off! Pamper yourself! You have crossed the threshhold into the realm of being overly broken down!"

At tonight's practice, I underwent not one, not two, but three separate specific and measurable characteristics that suggest I was trying enough.

These are:

Severe nausea of the sort where the stomach contents are storming the esophageal sphincter if not yet breaching same

Cramps in the thighs and calves that made just finishing a final "sprint" 50 an epic adventure of the sort that Homer might have written a trilogy about

And finally, the quote delivered to me, directly and with a look of "oh my god, I wish I'd paid more attention in that CPR class" anxiety, from a sophomore college swimming woman, "Are you okay?"

I am not maintaining these three above characteristics, even in combination, are sufficient to prove beyond all doubt that I was trying in practice.

I will, however, suggest they represent a sort of sine qua non triad the absence of which probably indicates you are not trying hard enough.

Near vomiting, cramps throughout the entire span of the legs, and the concern of a coed who really thinks she is about to see her first corpse: these are necessary, if not absolutely sufficient, conditions for trying.

I am not sure exactly could push one over the edge into absolute, definitive proof. After motorscootering home post-practice, I lay down on the couch to watch a few minutes of Countdown with Keith Obermanbefore lighting the grill and putting on my dinner of four Costco lamb chops.

When I stood up from the couch, I suffered a blood rush from the head that all but blackened out my visual field entirely, if only momentarily, forcing me to remain standing based on no more than a lifetime of experience in what this requires.

I could have fallen.

I could have also actually vomited during practice, seized up with such cramps as to not be able to finish my sprint 50 at all, no matter how slow, and finally I could have expired right after answering the coed's concerned inquiry with a simple--heroic even--"No."

Maybe this is what is sufficient to prove I tried hard enough in practice. I don't know. I guess when I get to that point where the question becomes moot, this vlog will have run its course.

So, here are my last three practices, each one, in its way, emblematic of the new Costillian maxim I am trying to put into practice: i.e., intensity trumps volume. (Note: I do have a bit of volume here, too, usually at the beginning, but these lengthy warm ups tend to be done at a very leisurely and relaxing pace, which I find is increasingly necessary to cajole the creekiness out of my joints and alleged muscles...)

3 hours, 15 minutes of doubles tennis; won 3 sets to one with hobbled partner Bill (suffering from gastrocnemius, also documented in previous vlog); a little water volleyball later
------------------------------------------------------Monday, Memorial Day, May 24th at Sewickley YMCA

------------------------------------Tuesday, May 26th at Sewickley YMCA
lifted 66,000 pounds in lieu of tennis singles because of rain
------------------------------------Wednesday, May 27th at Sewickley YMCA

[massive cramping on second sprint, almost unable to finish but force myself to waddle in, kicking with hip muscles alone]

4 x 50 on :40 “cool down”--coach Bill’s idea of whimsy

Total: 4100; total arm-deadeningly hard yards for me: 800 yards

-----------------------------------------------
Tomorrow, if the weather is okay, I will be playing tennis; weight lifting if it rains. Friday out to Pitt again, hopefully for the first long course swim of the season, though that's still up in the air how the pool will be set up.

Today, as suggested earlier, was my 22nd consecutive day of exercise, and I am not sure how long I can keep these up without a break. But it's been kind of rewarding to think that I might be slouching ever so slowly back into okay shape.

Comments

Volume is fine, just as long as it is very intense volume.You seem to do that in your workouts.

I usually try to catch Olbermann to see who the worst person in the world is. Now, they just need to fire Chris Matthews because he is bloody awful. It sucks that he is from the Philly area because he gives us Philadelphians a bad name.

Good hard working jimby!
Do you like the weight work? Do you see increased muscle definition?
I haven't been doing any lifting but I am going to start this summer. People already ask me how much I lift. For some reason I have alot of definition in my arms. (perhaps I swim with my arms too much and should try to use the core more?)
Anyway I like to look fit but I don't want to look like Lou Ferrigneio(sp?) or Arnold S.

Tom, the last few practices have all had sets where I approached what the weight lifters call muscle failure--crossing over the lactate threshhold to the point where It's really hard to continue, sort of like that last length in a 100 race. I am thinking that doing some of this at most practices will eventually tap muscle fibers that don't usually get worked out much outside of the meet environment. (In the winters here, where we have meets every other weekend, I actually do get some practice racing.)

One thing I am telling myself is that the times on the pace clock matter less than the perceived effort. Yesterday, for instance, I tried to descend the fast 100s in each of those three sets. But by the 3rd set, my times actually go slower--even though the vomiting urge, cramps, and "are you okay" looks of concern all got more intense. Anyhow, a new way to measure, I suppose.

Bob, I don't know about defiinition of muscles per se, but the veins are really starting to pop out to the point where it looks like a convention of night crawlers has checked into the hotels of my right and left arms! I am sure your well-defined arms are extremely attractive.

As for my heavily vasculated arms, I am not a woman, so I can't speak with absolute authority on this issue. But I would imagine there's not much that your gender finds more attractive than long cylindrical appendages riddled with prominent blue night-crawler-esque veins wriggling furiously thereupon!

On the weights, if you're hitting failure, use the Q formula. Go back to 80% and rebuild.

I think Jim is doing this on purpose. I think he is following the program outlined in the Colorado Experiment. I have followed a similar program in the past, and the reason I stopped was that it was mentally tough.

We all know that Jimby's mental fortitude surpasses the likes of me, so he will probably vlogging from Mr. Universe soon.

Actually, I am not coming close yet to lifting to failure. I am coming very close, however, to swimming to failure.

In terms of the lifting, I am now doing 3 sets of 12 reps each of about 12-14 different Nautilus exercises. It definitely gets hard by the end of the third set, but so far I haven't had to quit.

I wanted to ease in to the weights gradually, and not try to lift real heavy without a long preamble. I think I am about to the point where I might make the shift to 1 set of 12 reps for each of the main exercises, adding more weight.

The weather here today is very pre-tornadic in its terrible humidity. I am supposed to be playing tennis, but if this gets rained out, I will try the new approach.

I really haven't lost any significant weight, but to my admittedly biased eyes, my arms, shoulders, core, and legs are--at least when I squint the right way--looking ever so slighlty less non-buff than they did before I began this Sisyphusian self-appointed rendezvous with exercise nutdom.

I wanted to ease in to the weights gradually, and not try to lift real heavy without a long preamble. I think I am about to the point where I might make the shift to 1 set of 12 reps for each of the main exercises, adding more weight.

I really haven't lost any significant weight, but to my admittedly biased eyes, my arms, shoulders, core, and legs are--at least when I squint the right way--looking ever so slighlty less non-buff than they did before I began this Sisyphusian self-appointed rendezvous with exercise nutdom.

I will keep you posted!

Very smart to introduce weights gradually. There's no rush.

I'm not sure lifting causes one to lose weight. At least not me. Muscle is heavier than fat. You might actually gain weight, but lose inches. Don't worry about the scale.

And, yes, swimming can take a toll on your swimming and make you feel like utter crap in the water. But then when you taper the weights, you miraculously go faster. Or maybe it's just the suit and all the lifting will be for naught.